In many areas, but most of all in construction, they are very important and need reliable durable soils. This is a guarantee that any construction, starting from a private house and ending with a large production workshop, will remain intact for many decades. Unfortunately, the place allocated for construction is not always stable. Being close to the surface of groundwater swamps the soil, making it unsuitable for the construction of even small buildings.
Ground fixing methods
There are several ways to stabilize the soil, fix it, reduce compressibility and increase strength. One of them is to increase adhesion between particles without disturbing the structure of the soil. Most popular methods:
- Soil claying.
- Silicatization of soils.
- Cementation.
- Thermalization.
- Electrochemization.
The choice of a specific method depends on the type of soil. Most often, it is silicatization that is used to strengthen the soil as the simplest solution to such a serious issue. What is this method, what are its advantages and features? About it - further.
Silicate soil
Important detail: soils impregnated with oil products or resins are not subject to silicatization.
Using this method, it is possible to strengthen both water-saturated soils and dry sands, microporous subsidence and other types of bulk soils. The technology of silicate soil is very simple: to make the soil more reliable and durable, a certain substance is injected into it. It cements pores in the soil, due to which the bond between the particles increases and the soil becomes much stronger.
On sandy soils and loesses the usually single-solution method is used. If sandy soils are saturated with moisture or are quicksand, their condition can only be changed using the two-solution method of silicatization. It is possible to fix the soil by silicatization only if the base has a filtration coefficient of 3-78 m / day.
What is the feature? The peculiarity of silicatization of soils is that, penetrating into the soil, substances envelop small components, gluing and bonding them. To complete the whole process, holes are drilled in the ground or wells are drilled. After that, the solution is prepared in the right volume and pumped into the soil through injection pumps.
One-solution silicatization
On dusty sands and other types of unstable soils, it is the one-solution soil silicification method that is used. To do this, a solution of water glass mixed with sulfuric or phosphoric acid is fed into the soil of the desired area of land.
Note: previously, ammonium sulfate could be another component. But it was banned by the new rules of environmental services.
After one-solution silicatization, the soil becomes more stable, but its strength is not enough for the construction of large structures.
As a stabilizing substance, one liquid glass can also serve. This option is used on loess landing soils. Between liquid glass and water-soluble salts of the soil, a reaction occurs, resulting in a gel.
Two-solution method
Two-solution soil silicification differs from the previous version in that the selected components are not injected into the soil simultaneously, but alternately: first liquid glass, and then calcium chloride. After a chemical reaction, a new substance is formed. This is a silica gel. Its main quality is intensive hardening, which is carried out during the first day. Further, the hardening rate is significantly reduced, and it ends after 80-90 days. During this time, the strength of the soil increases significantly and reaches an indicator of at least 4.5 MPa.
The main features of the two-solution method
Silicatization of soils by this method has its advantages and disadvantages. Indisputable advantages:
- The ability to fix the soil at a sufficiently large radius from the well.
- No need to use special equipment, sophisticated equipment.
- The ability to significantly improve the quality of the soil.
Unfortunately, there are also disadvantages, but they are few:
- High cost - chemical components are not cheap.
- The hardening process takes a long time.
When is silicatization recommended?
Soil consolidation is recommended in the following cases:
- In the construction of highways.
- In the construction of industrial, warehouse and office premises, private houses, infrastructure and other facilities.
- When laying railway lines.
- In the construction of hydraulic structures.
- When it is necessary to condense loess soils.
- To strengthen depleted soils, etc.
The use of the two-solution method guarantees the strength of the soil, so that buildings and other structures will not shrink, crack or heel.
What does silicification of the soil give?
Silicatization of soils allows you to:
- To increase the bearing capacity of the soil under the foundations of the foundations of structures and buildings.
- To compact the unconsolidated soil, to strengthen it during the repair of the foundation under buildings and structures.
- Seal the foundation soil in those cases when it is planned to lay utilities or repair them. It is recommended to carry out this procedure on unconsolidated soils and during the development of pits.
- Eliminate or prevent unpredictable shrinkage of substrates on unconsolidated soils.
- Strengthen the slopes of the pits.
- Install an airtight curtain.
- Eliminate the roll of an emergency building or structure.